Loden was initially spurred by a close friendship and a humble but sincere concern for child education shared by a student and a college porter. Karma was a smallish Buddhist monk studying at Balliol in 1998 when he met Robert Miles, a large ex-policeman who was the college head porter. Rob was deprived of school education in hisyouth and wanted to help a child who may suffer the same fate. Karma found a bright girl child from a poor family in central Bhutan, who needed support to continue school and Rob sponsored her uniform, shoes and stationery. That was the birth of a scheme which would grow to transform and benefit the lives of many young people in Bhutan. 

Seeingthe benefit of his role as a channel for people's charity and wishing to give other Bhutanese youth the educational opportunity he had enjoyed (from his school days in Bhutan through his monastic training in India and post graduate study at Oxford), Karmacontinued to look for more sponsors and deserving beneficiaries. Meanwhile,  Karma's former school headmistress, Ashe Kunzang Choden, helped him in finding deserving candidates and disbursing funds. The initiative moved many of his friends and as more people showed interest to support the education of poor children in the Himalayas, Karma felt the need to have a formal policy and structure to manage the sponsorship.

In 2005, Loden gained a fresh impetus with the arrival of new enthusiastic members. An annual fundraising event was launched in 2006 and Loden expanded its projects from sponsoring school children to establishing early learning centres for children at preschool level. In 2007, Loden initiated its entrepreneurship programme to support youth at post-school stage through the vision and support of our two longstanding friends. In the same year, Loden opened itsown office in the centre of Thimphu with a small resource centre.